Norwich City 2-0 West Bromwich Albion: Jonathan Rowe scores again in Canaries win
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Top scorer Jonathan Rowe has scored six more goals than any other Norwich player
In-form Jonathan Rowe scored his 13th goal of the season as Norwich took an important step towards the Championship play-off places with victory over West Bromwich Albion at Carrow Road.
US international Josh Sargent gave the Canaries a first-half lead when his shot flew through the hands of keeper Alex Palmer after he ran onto Kenny McLean's perfectly weighted pass.
Having failed to seriously test Angus Gunn in the first 45 minutes, Carlos Corberan's Baggies raised their game after the break but a flowing Norwich move ended when Dimi Giannoulis squared to Rowe and he swept the ball home.
Unmarked Daryl Dike headed straight at Gunn as the visitors looked for a consolation, but Norwich held out and their eighth clean sheet of the season extended their unbeaten run at home in the league to six matches.
The win also lifted them three places to eighth in the table, just two points outside the top six and only four behind West Brom, who remain fifth.
Norwich boss David Wagner made six changes to the team which began their midweek FA Cup replay win over Bristol Rovers, while Albion recalled Jed Wallace in midfield, with loan signing Andi Weimann starting on the bench.
The home side began brightly and went in front when McLean carried the ball forward after winning it in his own half, threaded a pass between two defenders and Sargent did the rest.
Sargent joined Norwich from German club Werder Bremen in 2021
Palmer should have done better with the shot but redeemed himself with a brilliant diving save to deny Rowe before Gabriel Sara was just too high with a curling free-kick which brushed the roof of the net.
Brandon Thomas-Asante had the ball in the net just before the break but was penalised for handball and that was as close as the Baggies came in the opening 45 minutes.
Weimann was sent on for the second half in place of Adam Reach and he soon picked out a good pass to John Swift, whose shot was deflected away for a corner.
Thomas-Asante failed to get enough power on a header to beat Gunn from Swift's cross and was replaced by Dike soon after - but the striker had only been on the pitch for a couple of minutes when Rowe again showed why he is reportedly attracting interest from Premier League clubs with the second goal.
After failing to beat Gunn from Alex Mowatt's cross, Dike then cleared the bar after Weimann nodded down to him before Rowe brought another good save out of Palmer after twisting away from his marker as Norwich saw out the game to secure their first win in six league matches against Albion stretching back to 2007-08.
Their promotion aspirations will be given another serious test away to fourth-placed Leeds United on Wednesday, with Albion next in action on 28 January when they face Wolves in an FA Cup fourth-round derby.
Norwich boss David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk:
"Considering we played on Wednesday and West Brom lay on the sofa, I'm delighted for the players and everyone who was in the stadium.
"A clean sheet, two wonderful goals and the chances for scoring more, it was a fantastic afternoon.
"I know what this team is capable of - everybody sees, I think, that we have a few more alternatives in our squad in recent weeks than we had before and competition always helps.
"We keep going, we keep pushing, it's a long season and hopefully we continue like we have done."
West Brom coach Carlos Corberan told BBC WM:
"They had more accuracy than us in the chances that they had. We knew their strength was counter-attacks and with the first they managed to find a way to score a goal.
"In the first 15 minutes of the second half we created enough possibilities and they found in another transition the way to increase their lead.
"I think Andi Weimann was exceptional, he was helping the team, he was close to one very good assist and showed why we brought him to the club.
"We need to improve our numbers away, and keep the numbers at home, this is how you can keep our position in the table."
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